09 June 2005

God in the government

    With the apathy that exists today, a well organized minority can influence the selection of candidates to an astonishing degree.
      Pat Robertson
      in his book The Millennium
I listenned to two good audio programs recently that I wanted to pass on. Both deal with the the separation of church aand state, and its erosion in our current government.

"Are We Becoming a Theocracy?"
They were running the video of this program at our new church (more on that sometime). We didn't go, but I sought out the audio version.
Joan Bokaer is the founder of Theocracy Watch, and maintains their web site. In this presentation, she walks you through the history of religious right's rise to power. It's a little dry, but it's a quick listen and covers a lot of ground. Audio of this and other presentations can be downloaded free on their website.

This American Life: Godless America
I love TAL. It's one of my favorite radio programs. This episode is particularly good. It's "an hour trying to remember why anyone liked the separation of church and state in the first place." The first act covers the history of separation of church and ctate, and what the founding fathers intended. My favorite part was the discussion with Cornell government professor Isaac Kramnick, co-author of The Godless Constitution (which is has a new edition coming out that I intend to read). He explains how government is less secular now than it ever was, despite Tom Delay's assertions to the contrary.

There is also a great monologue by Julia Sweeney excerpted from her play, "Letting Go of God." She seems to have come to many of the same conclusions I have, though her path was different.

Anyway, check them out.

2 comments:

Rob said...

What are your conclusions Andrew, if you don't mind me asking? You don't specifically mention them, so I'm curious. If you don't want to post them publicly, I understand.

--*Rob

Andrew said...

Rob, I think the title of Sweeney's play is a fair clue. Rather than go into the entire story here, I'll be posting about that soon....